The most valuable footballers - £209m Bellingham beats £184m Haaland in list

Jude Bellingham has pipped Erling Haaland to top spot on a list of the most valuable players in world football.

The CIES Football Observatory have compiled a list of the top 100 footballers by factoring in a player's age and contract length, and it is Bellingham who is the cream of the crop, with the Real Madrid and England star valued at €251m (£209m).

Manchester City's Haaland has to settle for second behind his former Borussia Dortmund team-mate as he is rated at €221m (£184m) by the stats boffins.

Vinicius Jr (£171m), who was controversially overlooked for the Ballon d'Or in October, completes the top three, closely followed by Lamine Yamal (£150m) and Kylian Mbappe (£146m).

The Premier League is well represented, with an England trio all finishing in the top 10.

Bukayo Saka (£131m) takes sixth spot, with Cole Palmer (£125m) and Phil Foden (£121m) in eighth and ninth, respectively.

But there are also three shock picks from England's top flight that make the top 20. Arsenal forward Kai Havertz (£108m) is 11th, despite a quiet start to the season that has seen him score just seven Premier League goals. He also joined Arsenal for a significantly lower fee - £65m - just 18 months ago.

Two places below him on the list is City winger Savinho (£98m) who has only scored once since joining Pep Guardiola's side in the summer.

Then, perhaps even more surprisingly, Rasmus Hojlund (£93m) is 18th. The Manchester United striker moved to Old Trafford for £73m in 2023, but has struggled to prove that he is the answer to the club's goalscoring problems.

However, CIES appear to have faith that he will come good, and he is under contract at United until 2029.

Josko Gvardiol (£97m) and Declan Rice (£90m) are the other two Premier League stars inside the top 20.

Meanwhile, Cody Gakpo (£87m) is the highest-valued player at league leaders Liverpool.

He comes in just ahead of Arsenal pair William Saliba (£85m) and Gabriel Martinelli (£84m), and his Liverpool team-mates Darwin Nunez (£83m) and Ryan Gravenberch (£82m).

Alejandro Garnacho (£81m) and Alexander Isak (£80m) are next, and both have been linked with potential moves away from their respective clubs.

Garnacho is no longer deemed untouchable by United after being axed from Ruben Amorim's squad for last month's Manchester derby, while Isak is in the form of his life and scored again in Newcastle's 2-0 win over Arsenal on Tuesday night.

However, the Magpies are likely to be looking for much more than £80m for their prized asset, with a recent report claiming Newcastle value him at more than £150m.

Elsewhere, Chelsea duo Moises Caicedo and Enzo Fernandez are the most expensive players in Premier League history, with the Blues splashing out £115m and £107m, respectively, to bring them to Stamford Bridge.

They also make the CIES list, but at significantly lower values, with Fernandez rated at £79m and Caicedo £73m.